Dalton Portella

BiographyDalton Portella b.1958 Miami, Florida of Brazilian parents, has been drawing and painting since he was a child. When he was 12 his mother took him and his three sisters to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to live near her family after separating from his father, a violent alcoholic. At 17 he was emancipated and moved to California at 18 to study art at USIU. At 20 he moved to NYC and enrolled in Parsons school of Design, studying at night while working during the day. He was forced to drop out due to a loss of financial aid and pursued a career in commercial art, retouching photos on film while drawing and painting daily.

In the 1980s, with the invention of the Quantel Paintbox, Dalton was one of the first artists to pioneer digital photo manipulation and art. He became a freelance artist for Miramax movie posters, helping to create some of their most iconic posters, Pulp Fiction, Swingers, Shakespeare In Love, Kill Bill, and Frida to name a few.

He always felt his primary purpose was to create and left the commercial industry to pursue his fine art. In 2001 he moved to Montauk, NY where he lives and creates across a wide range of mediums, exhibiting extensively.